Pound:
Canto I
notes A Draft of XXX
| Cantos (1930) I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X AND then went down to the ship,
| Set keel to breakers, forth on the godly sea, and
| We set up mast and sail on that swart ship, |
swart: dark-complected
| Bore sheep aboard her, and our bodies also
| Heavy with weeping, and winds from sternward | 5
| Bore us out onward with bellying canvas,
| Circe’s this craft, the trim-coifed goddess. |
Circe: see Odyssey, Book 11;
coifed: haircut
| Then sat we amidships, wind jamming the tiller,
| Thus with stretched sail, we went over sea till day's end.
| Sun to his slumber, shadows o’er all the ocean | 10
| Came we then to the bounds of deepest water,
| To the Kimmerian lands, and peopled cities |
Kimmerian: N of Black Sea
| Covered with close-webbed mist, unpierced ever
| With glitter of sun-rays
| Nor with stars stretched, nor looking back from heaven | 15
| Swartest night stretch over wretched men there. |
Swartest, see line 3
| The ocean flowing backward, came we the to the place
| Aforesaid by Circe.
| Here did they rites, Perimedes and Eurylochus, |
Perimedes and Eurylochus: Odysseus’s buddies
| And drawing sword from my hip | 20
| I dug the ell-square pitkin; |
ell: 45 in.; pitkin: small pit
| Poured we libations unto each the dead,
| libations: liquid offerings
| First mead and then sweet wine, water mixed with white flour.
| Then prayed I many prayer to the sickly death’s-heads;
| As set in Ithaca, sterile bulls of the best | 25
Ithaca: Odysseus’s home
| For sacrifice, heaping the pyre with goods,
| A sheep to Tiresias only, black and a bell-sheep. |
Tiresias: late Theban seer
| Dark blood flowed in the fosse,
| Souls out of Erebus, cadaverous dead, of brides |
Erebus: Roman hell
| Of youths and of the old who had borne much: | 30
| Souls stained with recent tears, girls tender,
| Men many, mauled with bronze lance heads,
| Battle spoil, bearing yet dreory arms,
| These many crowded about me; with shouting,
| Pallor upon me, cried to my men for more beasts; | 35
| Slaughtered the herds, sheep slain of bronze;
| Poured ointment, cried to the gods,
| To Pluto the strong, and praised Proserpine; |
Pluto: the underworld's god;
Proserpine:????????
| Unsheathe the narrow sword,
| I sat to keep off the impetuous impotent dead, | 40
| Till I should hear Tiresias,
| But first Elpenor came, our friend Elpenor, |
Elpenor: see Odyssey, Book 11
| Unburied, cast on the wide earth,
| Limbs that we left in the house of Circe,
| Unwept, unwrapped in sepulchre, since toils urged other. | 45
| Pitiful spirit. And I cried in hurried speech:
| “Elpenor, how art thou come to this dark coast?
| “Cam’t thou afoot, outstripping seamen?”
| And he in heavy speech:
| “Ill fate and abundant wine. I slept in Circe's ingle. | 50
| |